Every political party that wins power must remember one thing: victory can hide weaknesses, but it does not remove them.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) may be enjoying the goodwill that came with John Dramani Mahama’s return to power, but the party must already begin thinking carefully about life after Mahama. That conversation is not disloyalty. It is political maturity.
President Mahama is constitutionally in his final term. That means the NDC cannot avoid the succession question forever. Ministers, MPs, regional executives, party financiers, grassroots organisers, communicators, and supporters will naturally begin to look beyond the current president.
The danger is not ambition itself. Every serious political party needs ambitious people. The danger is unmanaged ambition.
The NDC only has to look at the New Patriotic Party after the 2024 elections to understand what can happen when a party loses power, struggles to process defeat, and enters a succession battle while wounds are still fresh.
After its defeat, the NPP set up a committee chaired by former Speaker Professor Mike Oquaye to review what went wrong, and the report was presented to the party’s National Council in 2025. That alone shows the seriousness of the internal questions the party had to confront after leaving office.
For the NDC, the lesson is clear: a party should not wait until defeat before repairing itself. It must manage transition while it is still strong. The post-Mahama conversation should not be left to rumours, camps, secret meetings and social media attacks. It must be handled with order, fairness and discipline.
One of the biggest lessons from the NPP is that succession politics can easily become bitter. After the 2024 elections, some within the NPP argued that the party needed early congress to rebuild quickly, while others feared that rushing into a flagbearer contest could deepen divisions.
Political analyst Dr Bernard Tutu Boahene argued that the NPP’s late primaries before the 2024 elections affected the party’s brand and campaign, but he also warned that the party needed to build trust among aspirants and allow them to feel part of decision-making.
That warning should guide the NDC. If the post-Mahama race begins carelessly, the party could divide long before the next election. Ministers may start working for future candidates instead of working for the country. MPs may begin calculating who to support.
Regional executives may split. Foot soldiers may turn radio and social media into battlefields. Before long, every appointment, policy decision and government programme may be interpreted through the lens of succession.
To avoid this, the NDC must set clear rules early. The party should decide when campaigning can begin, how endorsements should be handled, how campaign financing should be regulated, and how insults among aspirants will be punished. A fair process will not remove competition, but it will reduce bitterness.
The second thing the NDC must do is avoid building the party entirely around Mahama. Mahama’s leadership is important, but the party must be bigger than one man.
One reason ruling parties struggle after a dominant leader exits is that policies become too tied to the personality of the president. When that leader leaves, the party suddenly struggles to explain its direction.
The NDC must therefore turn Mahama’s programmes into party achievements and national policies, not personal slogans. The 24-hour economy, the Big Push, anti-corruption reforms, youth employment policies and economic recovery programmes must be owned by the party and understood by the grassroots.
If these programmes succeed, the next NDC leader should be able to defend and continue them without looking like a stranger to the agenda.
This is where the NPP provides another lesson. After eight years in power, the party entered the 2024 election facing public frustration over the economy, cost of living, and governance. Mahama’s return was widely reported as a response to public dissatisfaction with the outgoing government’s record.
If the NDC fails to deliver, its succession race will become toxic because each camp will blame the other for the government’s failures.
Good governance is therefore the NDC’s strongest protection against internal polarisation. If Mahama’s government delivers visible results, the party will enter the post-Mahama era with confidence.
If the economy improves, corruption is punished, roads are completed, jobs are created, and public trust is restored, the succession contest will be about continuity. But if the government disappoints, the race will become a blame game.
Third, Mahama must avoid the “favourite candidate” trap. Every outgoing president has influence, but how that influence is used matters. If party members believe the president, his inner circle or national executives are secretly imposing one candidate, resentment will grow. Some people will obey in public and rebel in private. Others will feel excluded and begin building resistance early.
The NPP’s post-2024 situation shows how sensitive this can be. Reports have described tensions around the party’s flagbearer race, internal reforms and competing camps seeking to shape the party’s future.
The NDC must not allow a similar atmosphere to develop. Mahama should act as a father of the party and a referee, not as someone using presidential power to crown a successor.
Fourth, the NDC must learn how to manage religious influence, especially prophecies about who will become the party’s next leader. Ghana is a deeply religious country, and prophets, pastors and spiritual leaders have become part of the political conversation.
But if the NDC is not careful, prophecies about the next flagbearer could create unnecessary camps, false confidence, suspicion and resentment.
This is already becoming relevant. In April 2026, a report said Odifo Kofi Mensah of Doxa Ministry had made a prophetic declaration about the future leadership of the NDC, adding to public discussion about succession politics. Other prophecy-related reports have also appeared around Ghana’s 2028 election and the future of the NDC.
The party must handle this wisely. It should respect religious freedom, but it must not allow spiritual claims to replace democratic processes. No aspirant should behave as if prophecy has made them automatic leader.
No supporter should attack another candidate because a prophet has named someone else. The NDC must make it clear that leaders are chosen through party rules, delegates, competence, vision and service — not through pressure from pulpits.
This does not mean disrespecting prophets or churches. It means protecting the party from confusion. Religious voices can pray for the country, advise leaders, and encourage peace. But they should not be allowed to become unofficial electoral commissions within the party.
If prophecy is allowed to shape succession politics too strongly, losers may feel spiritually cheated, winners may become arrogant, and the grassroots may become divided between “God’s candidate” and “the people’s candidate.” That would be dangerous.
Fifth, the NDC must reward competence in government, not factional loyalty. Appointments matter. If one group feels that all the important positions are going to people loyal to a future candidate, the party will start dividing before the next primaries.
Ministers, deputy ministers, CEOs, ambassadors, board members and regional appointees must reflect competence, regional balance, gender inclusion, generational renewal and broad party loyalty.
This is not just about fairness. It is about survival. A ruling party becomes polarized when people feel that today’s exclusion will become tomorrow’s permanent defeat. The NDC must give all major wings of the party a sense of belonging.
Sixth, the party must control its communicators and foot soldiers. Internal polarisation is not created only by presidential hopefuls. It is often worsened by radio panelists, social media activists, constituency executives, and party influencers who attack rival camps in the name of loyalty. Once insults become normal, reconciliation becomes harder.
The NPP has faced similar concerns in its post-defeat environment, with some aspirants and supporters raising worries about internal attacks, distrust, and factional tension.
The NDC should learn from this. Internal competitors must not be treated as enemies. Today’s rival may be tomorrow’s running mate, campaign chairman, minister or regional organiser.
Seventh, the NDC must keep the grassroots involved. One major danger for any ruling party is that power becomes concentrated in Accra. When branch executives, constituency organisers, youth groups, women’s organisers and regional structures feel ignored, they become vulnerable to factional mobilisation. Aspirants then exploit their frustration.
The NDC should use regular regional consultations, policy forums and grassroots meetings to keep members engaged. The party must explain government policies, listen to complaints and give members a sense that they are part of the journey. A party base that feels respected is easier to unite when a leadership contest comes.
Finally, the NDC must agree on a reconciliation plan before the primaries. Many parties wait until after a bitter contest before they preach unity. By then, the damage is already done. The NDC should decide early how losing candidates will be treated, how their supporters will be included, and how the winner will bring rivals into the national campaign.
The post-Mahama test will not simply be about who becomes the next NDC flagbearer. It will be about whether the NDC can prove that it is bigger than one leader, wiser than its ambitions, and disciplined enough to manage power without destroying itself.
If the party governs well, manages ambition, respects religious influence without surrendering to it, protects fairness, disciplines communicators, and includes the grassroots, it can avoid NPP-style polarisation.
If it fails, the same power that has brought the NDC back may become the source of its next internal crisis.
By Dr Gervin A. Apatinga
